About Emily

Compelled by spiritual experiences since childhood, Emily Carson turned to serious meditation and spiritual investigation in 1996. She studied Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, esoteric psychology, and Christian mysticism and cultivated several self-realization practices: self-inquiry led by the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi; contemplation through the teachings of the Trappist monk Thomas Merton; and silent sitting as taught by Zen master Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. She was further educated and transformed through encounters with Gangaji, Mother Meera, Amma, Ramesh Balsekar, Neelam, and Brazilian Candomble.

These practices and an intense longing for truth have brought Emily into direct contact with many facets of the true nature of things, revealing through direct experience the non-existence of “I”; bliss in pain; the Self as every individual; apprehension of form without sign; the radical interconnectedness of all things; form life as a dream; the sameness of opposites; and emptiness as the nature of impermanent things.

Since 2003, Emily has been helping other seekers open to the full potential of their aspiration through sittings and retreats.  She shares teachings on the mind, love, the self, death, honesty, karma, and reality, as well as techniques for meditation, clearing latent impressions, cultivating faith, moving past God grievances, dealing with self-doubt and self-sabotage, and finding one’s own inner guidance to serve as the guru.  Her book Something Makes Me Open My Eyes: Meditations on Transcendence, a compilation of meditative talks paired with contemplative landscape paintings, introduces the breadth of her teachings.  The non-profit The Sound of Rain sponsors her events and distributes her teachings through subscriptions and audio.